Dutton Responds to Bandt, Expresses Pride in Role in Greens Leader's Removal

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Former Opposition leader Peter Dutton has criticized Adam Bandt following the outgoing Greens leader’s partial blame on “hate” towards Dutton for his electoral defeat in Melbourne.

On Thursday, Bandt acknowledged his loss to Labor candidate Sarah Witty in the fiercely contested district after experiencing a 4.4 per cent decrease in his primary vote share.

The ABC, Sky News, and pollster Redbridge had all foreseen Bandt’s defeat in the lead-up to his announcement.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Bandt expressed gratitude to voters for the opportunity to serve them over the past 15 years, highlighting his substantial policy contributions to climate reform and obtaining “the highest vote” of any electorate.

“To win in Melbourne, we needed to overcome the combined forces of the Liberal, One Nation, and Labor parties — it’s a challenge we’ve faced successfully a few times before, but this time we just missed the mark,” Bandt explained, pointing to preferences as the reason for his loss.

Outgoing Greens leader Adam Bandt at a press conference.

Adam Bandt’s loss means the Greens are now leaderless. Source: AAP / Joel Carrett

Bandt also cited “hate” for the former Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who presided over one of the on Saturday, as a factors that pushed voters in Melbourne away from the Greens towards Labor.

“People in Melbourne hate with a very good reason. They have seen his brand of toxic racism on display for many years, seen his time as immigration minister, seen him make comments about Melbourne … many of them wanted him as far away from power as possible.

“Despite us making it very clear that we shared their position, my initial take is some votes linked away from us as people saw Labor [as] the best option to stop Dutton.”

Bandt did not take questions at the press conference.

Dutton, who on Wednesday , later accused the Greens of “appalling” treatment of Australia’s Jewish community, saying that’s what cost Bandt — and other Greens MPs — their seats.

“Australians were rightly disgusted at their behaviour,” Dutton wrote on social media.

“We were proud to preference the Greens last, helping to ensure Adam Bandt’s loss.”

Some — but not all — Jewish groups were critical of the Greens’ pro-Palestinian platform amid the war in Gaza, which was sparked on 7 October 2023 after Hamas launched a surprise assault on southern Israel — a dramatic escalation of the long-running .

“The election results have made it abundantly clear that the Australian people are looking for pragmatism, and have less and less time for ideologues of any kind,” said Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim following Labor’s federal election win on Saturday. “The electoral punishment meted out by the voters to the Greens and other ideologically-driven special interest groups is particularly noteworthy.”

But the Australian Jewish Council’s executive officer Max Kaiser said swings towards Greens and independents in seats including Wills and Blaxland showed that, although the incumbent Labor MPs held on, that “the Australian public is outraged by the atrocities in Gaza”.

The Greens’ nationwide primary vote was just under 12 per cent — a slight dip on the 12.2 per cent they secured at the 2022 federal election. They will also continue to hold the balance of power in the Senate.

“If the Greens are considered too ‘extreme’, it’s a form of extremism that resonates with a significant and relatively stable portion of Australians,” commented Josh Holloway, a Government lecturer at Flinders University, in The Conversation on Thursday.

Bandt’s defeat has left the Greens without a leader.

Earlier, while expressing hope Bandt could still win Melbourne, Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi denied she had been canvassing leadership votes behind closed doors as the Melbourne seat hung in the balance.

“That is absolutely not correct. We are still waiting for the result of Melbourne,” she said.

“Adam has done a fantastic campaign … and we will wait for all the results to be declared, have a party room, and then start the process of electing a leader.”

It is believed that Greens senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Larissa Waters are potential candidates for leadership, though neither has formally announced their intentions.

Greens voters deliver mixed results

In 2010, Bandt was the first Greens member to be elected to the House of Representatives.

While holding the balance of power in the Senate, Bandt finally witnessed the party’s presence in the lower house grow with the addition of three Queensland MPs in 2022.

However, these gains appeared temporary with Brisbane’s Stephen Bates and Griffith’s Max Chandler-Mather conceding defeat following Labor’s landslide victory.

Three men and a woman in black suits stand in front of a long table with people wearing masks sitting behind them on a green couch.

In 2022, MPs Stephen Bates, Elizabeth Watson-Brown, and Max Chandler-Mather joined leader Adam Bandt in the lower house in what was dubbed a “Greenslide”. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

Chandler-Mather acknowledged the party had fallen short when it came to lower house seats — which was “bitterly disappointing”.

“But I think there is a lot of reason for hope,” Chandler-Mather said.

“We need to work out how to do better. Two days out from the election, [I] don’t have all the answers.”

Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown is in a tight three-party contest in Ryan, making it too close to call.

The minor party has attributed part of its loss to the collapse in the Liberal vote, which meant Coalition preferences flowed through to Labor.

Bandt maintains the party has received a record Senate vote this election and is on track to take 11 upper house seats.

As Labor expands its presence in the Senate, with a projected increase from 24 to 28 seats, it will only require the Greens to pass legislation.

This would mean previously influential crossbenchers like independent David Pocock won’t be as critical to passing legislation through the Senate.

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